MOSCOW, 11 September 2025. The VCIOM Analytical Center presents the findings of a survey measuring how Russians’ financial situation has changed over two decades.
Rich is the one who can get away with what they have!
More Russians say they feel more comfortable financially than two decades ago: in 2006 almost half of respondents said they didn’t have enough money; in 2025 the share of those who are in the same situation has halved. This is likely to be a sign of overcoming poverty rather than a sign of sustainable well-being. Most of Russians are still undetermined between “likely to be sufficient” and “likely to be insufficient”.
Women tend to report a lack of money more often than men; it indirectly points to the ongoing gender gap in income and financial stability. Perception of financial well-being is strongly dependent on the material situation. Most of those who report poor financial well-being experience a persistent lack of money. And those who are satisfied with their financial well-being do not experience hardships much; nine in ten say they have enough money.
The working Russians also report a better situation: in five years the number of those who had enough money until payday has increased, whereas the number of those who report running out of money before payday has declined. However, the percentage of those who experienced real financial scarcity has not changed (15%). Gender disparities in terms of financial well-being are still present: men feel more confident, whereas women often experience hardships. It is obvious that the most vulnerable ones are “the working poor”; four in ten respondents in this group failed to survive on a monthly salary.
- Residents of both capitals feel more confident financially: 69% of those working in Moscow and St Petersburg say their monthly salary is enough until next payday (vs. 52-58% of inhabitants of other cities and rural area); and only 10% of total respondents living in metropolitan areas say their money is not enough to live on. The smaller the settlement, the higher this percentage; in small settlements (up to 100 thousand inhabitants) and rural area the share is at 22-23%.
All-Russian VCIOM-Sputnik telephone survey was conducted July 12, 2025. A total of 1,600 respondents aged 18 and older took part in the survey. Survey method: telephone interview, stratified random sample based on a complete list of mobile phone numbers in use in Russia. The data were weighted for socio-demographic characteristics. The margin of error at a 95% confidence level does not exceed 2.5%. In addition to sampling error, minor changes to the wording of questions and different circumstances arising during the fieldwork can introduce bias into the survey.
Key effectiveness indicators, survey of July 12, 2025: cooperation rate (CR)* = 0.7388; minimum response rate (MRR)** = 0.0170; response rate (RR)*** = 0.0957. Calculations are based on corporate standard:
* CR: the number of complete interviews divided by the sum of: а) complete interviews and b) non-interviews with eligible respondents.
** MRR: the number of complete interviews divided by the sum of: а) complete interviews, b) interrupted interviews after successful screening and c) all the respondents where it is unknown whether they meet the selected criteria or not.
** RR is calculated in the same way as MRR, with the only difference that the number of respondents with unknown eligibility decreases proportional to the percentage of eligible cases in the total number of respondents with identified eligibility or non-eligibility.
To what extent is your money enough for you for living? (close-ended question, one answer, % of respondents) | ||
| 2006* | 2025 |
Sufficient | 5 | 18 |
Likely to be sufficient | 13 | 31 |
Unlikely to be sufficient | 39 | 32 |
Not at all sufficient | 43 | 18 |
Don’t know | 0 | 1 |
To what extent is your money enough for you for living ? (close-ended question, one answer, % of respondents) | |||||||||
| Total | Male | Female | Digital generation (Zoomers, 2001 and later) | Younger Millennials (1992—2000) | Older Millennials (1982—1991) | Reform generation (1968—1981) | Stagnation generation (1948—1967) | Thaw generation (before 1947) |
Sufficient | 18 | 17 | 19 | 20 | 19 | 14 | 18 | 17 | 28 |
Likely to be sufficient | 31 | 36 | 26 | 29 | 34 | 35 | 31 | 27 | 27 |
Unlikely to be sufficient | 32 | 30 | 33 | 39 | 34 | 32 | 33 | 29 | 25 |
Not at all sufficient | 18 | 16 | 20 | 11 | 12 | 17 | 16 | 26 | 13 |
Don’t know | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 7 |
To what extent is your money enough for you for living? (close-ended question, one answer, % of respondents) | ||||
| Total | How would you assess the current financial situation in your family? | ||
Very good, good | Average | Very bad, bad | ||
Sufficient | 18 | 48 | 11 | 3 |
Likely to be sufficient | 31 | 39 | 35 | 6 |
Unlikely to be sufficient | 32 | 9 | 39 | 36 |
Not at all sufficient | 18 | 4 | 13 | 54 |
Don’t know | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
Did you have enough money last month to buy foods and essentials before your next paycheck? (close-ended question, one answer, % of respondents) | ||
| 2020 | 2025 |
Likely enough | 50 | 56 |
Barely enough | 34 | 28 |
Not enough | 15 | 15 |
Don’t know | 1 | 1 |
Did you have enough money last month to buy foods and essentials before your next paycheck? (close-ended question, one answer, % of respondents) | ||||||||
| Total | Male | Female | Digital generation (Zoomers, 2001 and later) | Younger Millennials (1992—2000) | Older Millennials (1982—1991) | Reform generation (1968—1981) | Stagnation generation (1948—1967) |
Likely enough | 56 | 63 | 50 | 41 | 51 | 53 | 59 | 67 |
Barely enough | 28 | 24 | 31 | 30 | 35 | 29 | 27 | 19 |
Not enough | 15 | 12 | 19 | 26 | 13 | 18 | 13 | 13 |
Don’t know | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Did you have enough money last month to buy foods and essentials before your next paycheck? (close-ended question, one answer, % of respondents) | ||||
| Total | How would you assess the current financial situation in your family? | ||
Very good, good | Average | Very bad, bad | ||
Likely enough | 56 | 84 | 53 | 21 |
Barely enough | 28 | 12 | 32 | 36 |
Not enough | 15 | 2 | 14 | 43 |
Don’t know | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
Did you have enough money last month to buy foods and essentials before your next paycheck? (close-ended question, one answer, % of respondents) | ||||||||
| Total | Moscow and St Petersburg | Million-plus cities | 500-950 thousand inhabitants | 100-500 thousand inhabitants | до 100 thousand inhabitants. | Rural area |
|
Likely enough | 56 | 69 | 52 | 58 | 53 | 56 | 55 |
|
Barely enough | 28 | 18 | 33 | 28 | 29 | 24 | 31 |
|
Not enough | 15 | 10 | 14 | 12 | 17 | 20 | 14 |
|
Don’t know | 1 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
|
* Before 2017, surveys were conducted through household face-to-face interviews (Express project); stratified multi-stage sample, with quotas based on socio-demographic parameters; representative of the Russian population aged 18+, according to type of settlement, gender, age, education and federal district. Sample size: 1,600 respondents.
Author: Tatyana Smak